Prohibited tree and hedge cutting at UCD and TCD during nesting season

May 16th, 2019

Tree and vegetation cutting has taken place at both University College Dublin (UCD) and Trinity College Dublin (TCD) this week despite legal restrictions during the bird nesting season.

The Wildlife Act
currently restricts the cutting, burning or destruction of vegetation on
uncultivated land or in hedges or ditches during the nesting and breeding
season for birds and wildlife from 1 March to 31 August.

Photos of vegetation
cutting at the two universities emerged on social media this week, with hedge
and shrub cutting on UCD’s campus reported
on Tuesday.

Further tree pruning on a small patch close to TCD’s zoology department was highlighted on social media on Tuesday by research associate Collie Ennis.

This is the end result of cutting trees and shrubs during nesting season. Dead chicks under cut branches. Sickening, pointless and totally unnecessary. pic.twitter.com/GCWb2M9Di6

Ms Ennis told The Green News that the university has said
that the foliage was removed to help sunlight reach a wildflower meadow that will
aid TCD’s biodiversity and pollinator plan.

As a part of its current sustainability plans, TCD aims to both increase and encourage biodiversity on campus. Under its Biodiversity & Trees initiative, it lists increasing tree cover and biodiversity as two of its priorities.

“That’s fair enough
and very important work. I just don’t know why it needed to be done during
protected nesting season,” Mr Ennis said.

While appreciating that TCD has areas on campus where habitat management is carried out for biodiversity enhancement and education, Fintan Kelly of BirdWatch Ireland also questioned the timing of the works.

“It could have been
done before the nesting season,” Mr Kelly said. “Clearly destroying
uncultivated vegetation at this time of year is not only not best practice but it’s
illegal”.

Neither TCD or UCD
responded to requests from The Green News
for comment.

The photos posted by Mr Ennis also include a photo of a dead chick that he said was found underneath the cut branches.

The Wildlife Act makes it an offence to wilfully destroy, injure or mutilate the eggs or nest of a wild bird, or to wilfully disturb a wild bird on or near a nest containing eggs or unflown young.

Hedge & shrub cutting ongoing across UCD’s campus today.

To protect nesting birds & other wildlife it’s an offence to cut vegetation on uncultivated land b/w 1 March and 31 August.

According to Dr
Andrew Jackson of UCD’s School of Law,
the term wilfully in this context needs to be “interpreted consistently with
the word used in the EU Birds Directive, which is ‘deliberate’”.

He added, however, that the term “deliberate” has been “interpreted expansively” by the European Court of Justice to cover “accepting the possibility, or knowing that the risk exists, and proceeding anyway”.

In general, Dr
Jackson told The Green News, there “appears to be a misconception” that the laws prohibiting
vegetation cutting during the breeding and nesting season “somehow do not apply
in urban areas, in gardens or campuses”.

“This is incorrect,” Dr Jackson saids, “and those out cutting during the closed period should be aware that they are running a gauntlet of criminal offences.

“The failure to
respect these laws and the general absence of enforcement are clear
contributors to the perilous state of our biodiversity, which ultimately
endangers us all,” he added.

“The government has
recently recognised that reversing this negative trend requires transformative
change,” Dr Jackson said, adding that this change “starts at home”.

“So put your feet up this weekend, retire the hedge trimmer until September, and enjoy the sight of fledgling birds and other young animals as they emerge,” he continued.

Photo: Pxhere

Earlier this month, two men in Co Laois were
convicted under the Wildlife Act for hedgerow destruction during the nesting
season.

The offences included the wilful
destruction of birds’ nests and the destruction of vegetation growing in a hedge
in late May 2017 in Clogrenan, Co Laois.

According to data
released to The Green News under Access to Information on the
Environment regulations, the NPWS has brought just over 30 cases linked to
illegal hedgerow or vegetation cutting or removal since 2010.

This accounts for a
little over 15 per cent of cases brought by the service between 2010 and 2018,
with other cases involving the likes of illegal hare coursing, bird trapping
and tree removal.

Sinn Féin MEP Liadh Ní Riada also recently raised the issue of tree felling at the European Parliament, stating that constituents right across Munster and South Leinster have repeatedly brought the issue to her attention.

About the Author

Kayle Crosson

Kayle is a multimedia journalist focused on climate and environmental issues and contributes to The Irish Times and The Green News.